The PNW is Lit

SurfnFish

SurfnFish

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Being called the worse fire season for OR ever.
OR has had 1.9 million acres on fire, WA over 400,000.
The battle to save the small town of Sisters involved dozens of aircraft and thousands of firefighters.
Northern Spokane is lit, 600 structures/homes destroyed, over 5,000 structures in immediate danger, with a week long heat dome w/ strong winds about to ramp up.
The 25% budget reduction in USFS fire fighting has reduced the federal resources being deployed to help the states, and FEMA just turned down federal assistance for the counties/residents impacted by two of the biggest OR fires, stating they 'did not meet required criteria'.
To meet the challenge of what is being projected as the new normal, our states have no choice but to build up the respective forest fire fighting resources, which will require additional taxes.
Meanwhile, we have the hottest month of the summer to still get through.
 
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As I looked over the water into canada the other day, I watched this strange looking blob grow rapidly above the treeline. After checking for any BC volcanic eruptions, I learned that this is in fact a pyrocumulus cloud. This one appears to be in somewhere in the vicinity of whistler.
 
Amazing fires in PNW. In cali we are only 68% of the normal number of acres burned by this time annually which is around 1/2 mil acres annually. We did not get good snowpack this year but did much better than the rest of the west and actually had a decent ski season. PNW by contrast burns about 1 mil acres per year and has already hit 1.7mil acres burned with more hot months still to get through.

It's really bad for the people who have lost homes. Even the super wealthy victims of the nearing 2 year old Pacific Palisades fire are road blocked by government slow walk on permitting and non-pay/slow pay of their insurance companies that today only 30 of 6000 homes have been rebuilt. Those without means have little chance to ever get whole again. To make matters worse Senator Adam Shiff has introduced a bill to prevent Private equity and speculators from buying burned property preventing victims who just want to get on with their lives to sell and move somewhere else.

I have a friend who lost his house in the Santa Rosa fire. He sold out and moved to Carlsbad and got on with his life within a month. I have a client who lost his house in the pacific palisades fire and it has taken 1.5 years to get through permitting and he just broke ground. He has lost a lot of weight, looked stressed, the last 1.5 years have been hell on him. Hopefully rebuilding in PNW is easier than Cali and state governments leave home owner options open.
 
2 million acres burned up in OR, most ever.
The fire in Spokane that burned up over 600 homes started by a paroled murderer.
A high pressure heat dome has set up with NE winds pushing bad air from the Cascades to the beach.
A month left of prime fire season with highs to a 100 this week.
All during a time that the US cut back on fire fighting staff while simultaneously ordering 11 ice breaker ships costing multiple billions, the first five from Finland, disregarding our Navy that stated they can only use 5 and would not be able to staff or maintain the other six.
It's like living in a war zone and the enemy is us.
 
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SurfnFish said:
Being called the worse fire season for OR ever.
OR has had 1.9 million acres on fire, WA over 400,000.
The battle to save the small town of Sisters involved dozens of aircraft and thousands of firefighters.
Northern Spokane is lit, 600 structures/homes destroyed, over 5,000 structures in immediate danger, with a week long heat dome w/ strong winds about to ramp up.
The 25% budget reduction in USFS fire fighting has reduced the federal resources being deployed to help the states, and FEMA just turned down federal assistance for the counties/residents impacted by two of the biggest OR fires, stating they 'did not meet required criteria'.
To meet the challenge of what is being projected as the new normal, our states have no choice but to build up the respective forest fire fighting resources, which will require additional taxes.
Meanwhile, we have the hottest month of the summer to still get through.
Click to expand...
1785859920130.png
 
Also 23 states are getting smoke from Canada. That number just increased because it is now affecting Washington and Idaho.
 
RCF said:
Also 23 states are getting smoke from Canada. That number just increased because it is now affecting Washington and Idaho.
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Would think Canada would vastly more forest area than the US, whereas Canada has 857M acres to US 765M acres.
The difference is population - US has 342M folks, Canada has only 41M so less densely inhabited territory to defend and less financial resources to defend with, so when Canada gets lit it tends to stay that way longer.
 
fatbillybob said:
"To make matters worse Senator Adam Shiff has introduced a bill to prevent Private equity and speculators from buying burned property preventing victims who just want to get on with their lives to sell and move somewhere else."
Click to expand...

NEWS: Sen. Schiff Introduces Bill to Crack Down on Giant Corporate Investors Snatching Up Properties Following Natural Disasters

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is introducing new legislation to restrict giant corporate investors such as private equity firms from purchasing properties within areas impacted by major natural disasters. The legislation comes as Congress is considering a major...
www.schiff.senate.gov www.schiff.senate.gov

And here is the rest of the story. I salute Senator Shiff on trying to defer the vulture corporate pigs!
 
Tonasket came real close and Loomis was spared by some very brave folks who put their lives on the line. Cal Fire took over and did the job along with WA, OR, Canada, and others, including one fellow I met from Georgia. Air support was low as we were told that wind conditions made it difficult and of course "resources were spread so thin". @SurfnFish said it quite well.
 
hopefully the worst affected regions will get additional FEMA support. That's what it's there for.
 
clarkman said:
hopefully the worst affected regions will get additional FEMA support. That's what it's there for.
Click to expand...
FEMA just turned down two Oregon requests that included the largest fire in the state, the Rowe Creek Complex of 324,000 acre.

"During the current administration, Republican states have experienced a significantly higher disaster aid approval rate compared to Democratic states, which have faced a much lower approval rate and increased rejections for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance."

Looking forward to a time, hoping to return to a time, in which we all share the perspective that we are in this together.
 
SurfnFish said:
FEMA just turned down two Oregon requests that included the largest fire in the state, the Rowe Creek Complex of 324,000 acre.

"During the current administration, Republican states have experienced a significantly higher disaster aid approval rate compared to Democratic states, which have faced a much lower approval rate and increased rejections for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance."

Looking forward to a time, hoping to return to a time, in which we all share the perspective that we are in this together.
Click to expand...

The crazy part is a lot of this is taking place in solid red counties.

Here in the Gorge it's ugly. 100 degrees and AQ around 175. The Grasshopper fire burned one of my favorite lake areas and now has turned back west and is crossing the 35. the summer crew at Mt Hood Meadows just evacuated.

No words for what is happening in Spokane. Here in the middle of Hood River it feels safe in a neighborhood, but then seeing full blocks go up out there is scary stuff. Some things man just can't control.
 
AQI just outside of my work on the waterfront topped out at around 135 today. Tough to deal with in an already immuno-compromised population. Really hope things can get under control....I've seen areas of the state where AQI is in the 500s. Same with WA.
 
SurfnFish said:
FEMA just turned down two Oregon requests that included the largest fire in the state, the Rowe Creek Complex of 324,000 acre.

"During the current administration, Republican states have experienced a significantly higher disaster aid approval rate compared to Democratic states, which have faced a much lower approval rate and increased rejections for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance."

Looking forward to a time, hoping to return to a time, in which we all share the perspective that we are in this together.
Click to expand...
Agree - we are all in this together. There are only two things I can't stand in this world: People who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch.
 
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